Marriage, childbirth evoke fear, not joy among young South Koreans, study finds
Marriage and parenthood are increasingly associated with fear and anxiety among South Korea's younger generation, according to an analysis released Tuesday. Despite government efforts to reverse the country's declining birth rate through a range of policies, negative perceptions toward family life persist, reflecting deep-rooted societal and economic concerns.
According to an analysis of posts on Blind, an online community for young workers, two-thirds of marriage-related posts carried emotions of "sadness," "fear" or "abomination."
Of these, 32.3 percent displayed feelings of "sadness" while 24.6 percent exhibited "fear" and 10.2 percent were categorized under "abomination."
On the other hand, only 9.3 percent of the posts expressed happiness.
A similar trend could be observed for childbirth and childrearing. According to the institute, over 60 percent of childbirth-related posts carried these negative emotions, with "abomination" leading at 23.8 percent, followed by "fear" (21.3 percent) and "sadness" (15.3 percent). Nearly 70 percent of posts about childrearing exhibited such emotions.
The analysis was conducted by not-for-profit private-sector think tank Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future. It was based on some 50,000 Blind posts combined from December 2017 to November last year about marriage, childbirth or childrearing.
The same analysis also indicated that the word "money" appeared in nearly 30 percent of all posts related to marriage and in 13.2 percent of posts about childbirth.
Moreover, nearly 60 percent of the marriage-related posts centered around the "preparations and conditions for marriage," while almost 20 percent of childbirth-related posts talked about "financial support related to childbirth."
This came as South Korea showed signs of a rebound from the downtrend in its birth rate. On average, the number of children born to a South Korean woman in her lifetime was estimated at 0.75 in 2024, up from 0.72 the previous year. It was the first rebound in South Korea's fertility rate in nine years.
However, the institute noted that young people's perceptions of marriage, childbirth and childrearing remains negative. It cautioned that the recent rise in the birth rate may be temporary, as it could be driven by a base effect following the COVID-19 pandemic, making it too early to conclude that the trend will continue.
Yoo Hye-jeong, director of the population research center at the KPPIF, called for a strong policy drive to address the young generation's financial difficulties and their struggle to achieve a work-family balance so that the rebound in the birth rate can continue.
Meanwhile, acting president and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday laid out a new batch of support plans for young married couples or couples willing to get married.
The government laid out plans to enable families with at least three kids get priority in airport boarding processes in South Korea when traveling overseas and offer affordable public housing to a wider range of newlywed couples or couples with a newborn child.
Also, Seoul and local governments will work together in May on a pilot program in which some 5,000 senior citizens will drop off children at schools and kindergartens amid high demand for childcare workers among working parents.
South Korea is now suffering the double blow of an extremely low birth rate and an aging population. In December, over 20 percent of South Korea's population was aged 65 or older, marking South Korea's official transition into a superaged society.
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